Plant-support



F. W. EUE.

,PLANT SUPPORT. APPLICATION FILED MAY I, 1919.

Patented Dec. 9, 1919.

FBEDBIGK W. EUE, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

PLANT-SUPPORT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 9, 1919.

Application filed May 1, 1919. Serial No. 293,954.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDRICK W. Eon, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Plant- Supports, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in plant supports.

The object of my invention is to provide an efficient support for growing plants which may be easily assembled by unskilled persons and readily taken apart to be conveniently stored or shipped in knock-down form.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of my plant support, one of the horizontal members being shown out of engagement with the connecting member; Fig. 2 is a plan view of my support partly in sections; Fig. 3 'is a view of one of the horizontal members and Fig. A is a view of one of the vertical members.

In the form in which I have shown my device, it consists of a frame composed of vertical rods A and horizontal bars B. The rods A are preferably of metal. and the bars B preferably ofwood. The rods A, which support the corners of the frame. are identir cal in form, and the bars B are also substantially identical with each other except for the fact that two ofthein, intended for use in the lower tier of horizontal members, are perforated near their ends to permit the rods A to be thrust through them and two of said bars forming the upper tier of the frame are formed with holes 9 passing partly through their ends adapted to receive the upper ends of the rods A and to hold said bars B.

The rods A may be of any suitable length and are formed with intermediate shoulders 10 adapted to support the lower tier of bars B when the perforations 11 therein are slipped over said rods. The lower extremities of the rods A are preferably bent to form offsets 12 which are desirable both for the purpose of designating the lower end of the rods and to form an anchor in the earth into which said rods are inserted when the frame is erected.

The horizontal bars B are all out near each end to form rabbets 13, which are in depth substantially half the thickness of the bars and extend across the bars, the purpose being to form a neat and secure rabbeted joint, near the corners of the frame,

between bars B which meet at right angles. These rabbets fit snugly into each other so as to form a rigid joint without fastening means, though it is not desirable to have these joints so tight that it will be difficult to take down the frames for the purpose of storing them at the end of the season.

To assemble my plant supports it is only necessary to insert the lower ends of the rods in the ground at a distance apart equal to the distance between the perforations 11 in the horizontal bars B; then slip the rods through the perforations 11 in a pair of said bars permitting the bars to rest upon the shoulders 10 in the rods, the rabbet in this pair of bars being of course presented upward. A second pair of bars is then slipped with its rabbeted side down into the rabbets of the first mentioned bar and the holes 9 in another pair of bars are fitted over the upper ends of the rods with the rabbets presented upward and the final pair of bars is then adjusted in said rabbets to complete the frame.

It is, of course, obvious that in the earlier growth of the plant it may be desirable to apply only the lower set of bars and then subsequently when the plant has attained a height to make further'support desirable the upper set of bars may he slipped upon the tops of the rods. It is also obvious that the supports may be adapted to tall plants by supplying additional horizontal frames similar to the lower tier shown and described.

I have found in use that my plant supports form particularly neat and efficient frames for such plants as tomatoes and dahlias and also that they are superior to anything on the market because of the ease with which they can be erected and the convenience with which they may be taken apart and either shipped or stored in compact form; itbeing clear that all of the parts of the support may be packed together in parallel relation with each other to form a small package.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A separable plant support comprising vertical parallel rods having right angle shoulders bent therein and a plurality of horizontal bars forming rectangular frames, one pair of bars in each frame being perforated to slip over said rods and. rest on said shoulders, and the companion bars in each frame being grooved transversely to slip over the first mentioned bars and hold them in parallel relation.

2. A separable plant support composed exclusively oi vertical metal posts and tiers of horizontal bars connecting said posts, a pair of bars in each tier being formed With circular perforations to receive said posts means? and the companion bars being freely rabbeted to said perforated bars to hold them in parallel relation, and the posts having medial shoulders, formed by tWo right angle offsets in the posts, to support a plurality of said bars.

#Vhereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name to this specification.

FREDRICK W. EUR 

